National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (Aberdeen)

About MeThe National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) was formed in 1897 as an umbrella organisation for all the suffrage societies in England, Scotland, and Ireland. It formed from fellow organisations which had previously been a part of the earlier National Society for Women’s Suffrage (formed in 1867), and which had split in the intervening years. The leading light was Millicent Garrett Fawcett (sister of pioneering woman doctor Elizabeth Garret Anderson).

An Aberdeen Women’s Suffrage Association (with around 60 and 70 members) was active in around 1900 (and was a continuation of the earlier National Society for Women’s Suffrage branch), but did not actually affiliate to the National Union until 1905 (Edinburgh and Glasgow affiliated a couple of years before). As well as the usual activities of meetings and campaigning, the group was active in trying to get more women elected to the School Board. The President was Mrs Trail (a veteran of the earlier National Society Branch), Vice-President was Mrs Clegg and Honorary and Secretary/Treasurer was Miss H.E.G. Smith. Later secretaries included: LM Murray (1909), Dorothy Tait (1910) and Mrs Firth (1913) and a later President, from 1908, was pioneer of female education, Louisa Innes Lumsden. The branch headquarters (c.1912 – c.1913) was 214 Union Street and later 11a Dee Street (c.1914). Like the national Union, many supporters were also part of the Women’s Liberal Associations, and Aberdeen was no different, with Aberdeen liberals such as the Mrs Black (President) and Mrs Allan (Honorary Secretary) active members. The Suffrage Association also had variants of their name – Aberdeen Association for Women’s Suffrage (Non-Militant) and then another variant (Law-Abiding).

At a national level, in 1919, the NUWSS renamed itself as the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship.

(From Aberdeen Protest https://aberdeenprotest.wordpress.com/2018/05/29/national-union-of-womens-suffrage-societies-aberdeen-c-1900-c-1919/ last accessed 19/09/2023)